St. John's Episcopal Hospital Holds Tree Care Seminar

St. John's Episcopal Hospital hosted a tree care seminar held by the New York City Department of Parks on Tuesday, June 2. Representing the Hospital and Department of Parks were (from left to right): Luann Madden, Ambulatory Surgery, the initiator of the mini-gardens at SJEH; Kristi King, Forester, Wen Lin, Forester, Joe Kocal, Senior Forester, and Patrick Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer, SJEH. New York City Department of Parks held a tree care seminar at St. John's Episcopal Hospital (SJEH) on Tuesday, June 2.

The workshop was attended by more than 30 people who represented more than 100 gardeners at the Hospital who, as departments, have adopted a tree and a mini-garden from among the 40 trees planted around the facility.

The trees were planted as part of MillionTreesNYC, a joint city and private initiative to plant a million trees in New York City, making it a greener place to live. So far, more than 220,000 trees have been planted, according to the Parks Department.

Parks representatives stated that the area of Far Rockaway surrounding St. John's had been declared a "Tree for Public Health Zone" and is earmarked for special tree planting. The determination for the zone was based on the high rate of asthma in the area, the low canopy cover and high density population.

SJEH employees join together under a tree on Beach 20 Street in Far Rockaway. Hospital staff received instructions on watering, weeding and mulching the pits around the trees as well as how to plant flowers around the trees. The Parks Department representatives said they hoped St. John's adoption of the trees would inspire others to plant and tend for the trees recently planted around Rockaway. To request a tree from MillionTreesNYC, please dial 311.

Department of Parks foresters King (center) and Lin (kneeling) demonstrate weeding around the trees planted by the MillionTreesNYC around SJEH. The New York City Department of Parks distributed free watering buckets, hoses, and gardening tools as part of the tree care workshop held at SJEH.